NYAV12: LessLoss and Kaiser

Lessloss was showing the Kaiser Acoustics Vivace “High Performance Loudspeaker”, which starts at $42,500 depending on finish; they looked very impressive in Lamborghini Orange.

Fitted out with Scanspeak drivers and a Mundorf AMT tweeter, the Vivace cabinet is made out of Panzerholz, an extremely dense engineered wood with ludicrously low levels of resonance. Stillpoints Ultras, used as feet, top the isolation/damping tech with a cream-filled flourish.

This is audiophile audio-porn at its finest. Top shelf parts. Clever technology. Great sound. And of course, don’t forget … the giant price tag.

Beyond Frontiers, which has no US distribution at this point, provided the amp — here, the $18,000 Tulip “Bi-Amp” integrated which is good for 180wpc over 4 channels.

Also, BFA had sent along their world-premier $40,000 Tube DAC, which is practically bristling with inputs:

• 2xUSB
• 2xSPDIF
• 1xXLR digital
• 1xOptical

Tunes came direct from mbl 1621a Reference CD Transport, played into the BFA DAC.

Or into the Lessloss DAC 2004 MkII, $4000.

Other goodies on display — a Lessloss Firewall pair, $4,686 each. Blackbody Field Conditioner, $1323, each. DFPC Signature power cords, $1,149 each.

I visited this room, which sat on the farthest outskirts of the show, a couple of times over the course of the show. The music in here was very engaging, and Louis Motek, the LessLoss designer, was happily demoing the Blackbody on two of the trips through.

Louis placed these devices bracketing his Firewall power conditioners and the Lessloss DAC, removed them, replaced them again. I can’t honestly report that I heard any differences, but that may have been entirely due to the sweet gentleman who sat down squarely in front of me during this demo and would not STFU the entire time he was in the room, peppering the presenters, the other showgoers, and the spirits he must have been channeling, with an unending stream of questions. I nearly bludgeoned him to death with my big Manfroto tripod. Perhaps I’ll get a chance to repeat the demo at some point in the future.